This post is all about flavoured plant based milks (i.e. 'milk' made from nuts or seeds). Yay! I find they are a fun alternative to juice (especially for those who don't tolerate dairy). Often you'll see them included as part of a cleanse package, providing more of a dessert like treat after a day of juicing. They are incredibly healthy and also very simple to make. All you need is a juicer, a blender and a nut milk bag. If you haven't made a nut milk before, that too is not difficult - I have included some guidelines at the bottom of this post.

Feel free to play around with the juice to milk ratios in these recipes as well as the level of sweetness according to your palate.

tumeric, ginger & carrot milk

This plant milk is one of three that I did as part of my final project at Matthew Kenney culinary school, the others being a reishi chocolate milk, and a matcha green tea milk. My inspiration is that I wanted each of the milks to be based upon an ingredient that is immensely beneficial to the body. In this plant milk, that super ingredient is of course turmeric, well known for it's anti-inflammatory effects. Turmeric itself is rather strong, so the sweetness of the carrot juice balances nicely whilst also bringing a dose of vitamin A to the blend. Yay! I've also added ginger this time around (more anti-inflamatory super powers!), and manuka honey as a sweeter - this plant milk is pretty great!

Makes approx 2 cups

1 1/4 cups almond milk

1/2 cup carrot juice

1/4 cup tumeric juice

1 Tbsp manuka honey

2-3 cm chunk of ginger

seeds of 4 cardamom pods

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender.

*Tips 1 - watch out when dealing with tumeric juice as it will stain! Also, if you think juicing tumeric is a bit much you could add in 2 - 3 small tumeric roots when blending.

*Tips 2 - I find I like this milk a bit better when it has a thicker consistency. I like to add 1 Tbsp chia seeds after blending and then I'll leave the milk to develop in the refrigerator for 1/2 an hour. After this time, I'll re-blend the milk and strain the mixture through a sieve to remove chia bits. Alternatively you could blend 2 Tbsp cashew nuts (soaked for 2 hours), for thickness.

caramel beet milk

Beets bring such a beautiful colour to - well almost any food really (just don't blend with greens in a smoothie or juice as you will get an unappealing brown colour!). Beets are inherently sweet and when paired with medj0ool dates, nut milk and cinnamon each component seems to enhance the other into a whole that is caramelly and delicious. You could boost this milk with maca powder, a superfood known for it's regulating effects on hormones as well as being beneficial to the thyroid.

Makes approx 2 cups

1 1/2 cups almond milk (alternatively hazelnut milk)

1/2 cup beet juice

1 medjool date

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender.

green milk

This milk combines a potent green juice blend with brazil nut milk A far more pleasant experience than closing your eyes and knocking back green bitterness in the name of good health, whilst ensuring you still ingest all the green good stuff.